German
The genitive case is used in the German language to show possession. For example:
- das Buch der Schülerin (the book of the schoolgirl) - Feminine
- das Buch des Schülers (the book of the schoolboy) - Masculine
An s is simply added to the end of the name if the identity of the possessor is specified. For example:
- Claudias Buch (Claudia's book)
There is also a genitive case with German pronouns such as 'dein' (your) and 'mein' (my).
The genitive case is also used for objects of some prepositions (e.g. trotz, wegen, statt, während ), and is required as the case of the direct object for some verbs (e.g. gedenken, sich erfreuen, bedürfen; Usage: wir gedachten der Verstorbenen - We remembered the dead; wir erfreuen uns des schönen Wetters - We're happy about the nice weather.).
All of the articles change in the genitive case.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Definite article | des | der | des | der |
| Indefinite article | eines | einer | eines | (no article) |
Adjective endings in genitive case:
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Definite article | -en | -en | -en | -en |
| Indefinite Article | -en | -en | -en | -en |
| No article | -en | -er | -en | -er |
The following prepositions can take the genitive: außerhalb, innerhalb, statt, trotz, während, wegen, and dank.
The genitive case is widely avoided in most colloquial and dialectal varieties of German. It is replaced by the dative case after verbs and prepositions, and by means of the preposition von ("of") in other contexts. However, this usage is not accepted in the written standard language.
Read more about this topic: Genitive Case
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—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)